Content and news by Rob Williams

During a Japanese marketing event yesterday, Nintendo President Saturo Iwata revealed that games for the Nintendo Wii’s virtual console will be available for $4.50 to around $8.99 per game. The virtual game console will allow gamers to play older games from Nintendo consoles is expected to be one of the key selling points for the Wii console. The price of game downloads is aimed to be competitive with the Microsoft XBOX Live Arcade service, which charges users between $5 to $12.50 for Arcade titles.

This shouldn’t really be a surprise… nobody is going to pay more than $10 for an old game unless they are a huge fan. They are comparing it to the Xbox Arcade, but I hope to see Wii’s service have a far better selection.

The British Phonographic Institute (BPI), official trade association for British record companies, has announced that it plans to sue AllofMP3.com, because the site is illegal under UK law. Instead of suing British music listeners using the service, the BPI has decided to only sue the site. The BPI also claims that the site is not licensed to sell music in the UK.

The future is bleak for AllofMP3.com. It’s a great site with an intense selection, so it will suck to see it disappear.

Today, PQI is showing off new drives that mimic Samsung’s 32GB Flash-SSD. PQI, with the help of Samsung NAND flash memory chips, has new 64GB IDE and 64GB SATA 2.5″ storage solutions for mobile users. The drives, which are due for release in August, are by nature more rugged, lighter, cooler and more efficient than traditional hard drives with a spinning disc. And best of all, there are absolutely no moving part so no more listening to your hard drive whir while you’re typing away and no more clicking and thrashing as you open up Photoshop or perform other disk-intensive operations.

It’s great to see this finally happen, but I really, really don’t want to know what these will cost.

Day 2 has come and gone, so there is more Computex fun to be had.

Once again, Hexus has a huge round-up.

• Galaxy show off dual core 7600GT!
• Large-memory Quadro FXs break cover
• BenQ showcase a Blu-ray combi external drive
• World’s first fully HD compatible LCD Monitor
• And the winner of best company name goes to…
• Arctic Cooling have a rubber fetish!
• Zalman want to cool your living room… sort of.
• Mixed messaging from NVIDIA?
• The utterly gratuitous booth babe article

techPowerUp! has taken a look at what Thermaltake has to offer.

Thermaltake has released more products than any other manufacturer at Computex. Among the highlights are a huge home theater case which looks like a big audio rack and has space for two systems. For visitors of lan parties a Shuttle-like case is offered which takes all standard size components and supports SLI. Several new watercooling products have been announced, including a watercooled passive PSU. A whole load of air and watercooled GPU coolers are new too.

Is NVIDIA going to invade the processor market?

Here at Computex we have the privilege of meeting a lot of companies’ employees ranging from CEO`s all the way down to Customer Service. We were very fortunate to speak with someone from Nvidia at a restaurant. We can not say who this person is, or what position this person holds. According to Him/Her, Nvidia will invade the processor market in the long future, telling us that it could take years but eventually – it will happen.

In addition to that speculation, NGOHQ provides their day 2 reports.

Today we have a lot of cool stuff from Computex. This time we chilled out our hormones and went to look for some hardware. We have pictures of SLI motherboards for Conroe, that are based on the Nvidia nForce 500 series. We also have some pictures of Abit motherboards, Dual GeForce 7600GTs from Galaxy, some sweet Nvidia rigs, Intel’s booth, Inno3D, and more babes. If you don’t read this article, you will have no idea what you’re missing.

We will post more news as it comes in..

Cases & Enclosures
• Xilence X1 Case – Technic3D

Cooling
• Aquacomputer Aquatube res + Aquadrive dual HDD cooler – Xtreme Computing
• Extreme Cooling Technologies Prometeia Mach II GT – PC Apex
• Zalman CNPS8000 Cooler – Pro-Clockers

Memory & Storage
• OCZ 1GB Ultra-Slim Mini-Kart – Legion Hardware
• Super Talent DDR2-1066 1GB CL5 Dual Channel Memory Kit – Think Computers

Motherboards & CPU’s
• Abit AN8-32X – Driver Heaven
• MSI K8N Diamond Plus – HotHardware

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Logitech G5 – TenTonHammer
• Logitech G15 – Overclockers Club
• OCZ GameXStream 600W PSU – 3D Gameman
• OCZ GameXStream 700W PSU – ModTheBox
• OCZ GameXStream 700W PSU – Overclocker Cafe
• OCZ GameXStream 700W PSU – OCIA

Video Cards & Monitor
• ATI and Physics Acceleration – Pure Overclock
• Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 10.8 – Rojak Pot
• Sapphire “Ultimate” x1600 PRO 256MB – Virtual-Hideout

Etcetera & Contests
• Lenovo 3000 V100 – Digital Trends
• Linux UMPC Updated – XYZ Computing

Are you into combat games? Of course you are. Battlefield II, Call of Duty II… they are all over. OCZ has just released a new kit with their XTC spreader dressed up in some camouflaged. Because these are value modules, overclocking is a gamble. Let’s see if these are as fast as they are stylish.

Google hopes to continue to steal users away from Microsoft products with its latest offering. Google Spreadsheet will aim to battle Microsoft Excel while trying to chip away at the dominance of Microsoft Office. The program will be free online without users being forced to download it.

If this was a standalone application, I may understand the usefulness. But, how many times have you performed large tasks like this in your browser, only to lose all the work when the browser crashes? And since Google knowingly stores all GMAIL e-mails after they are deleted, what’s stopping them from holding onto your spreadsheet information? Maybe it’s the security buff in me, but it doesn’t sound THAT great to me.

ATI however, has come forward to say that new GeForce 7950GX2 boards provides almost no improvement over the previous generation, all while costing a hand and leg. In fact, ATI goes to show that in many performance benchmarks — synthetic and real-world — NVIDIA’s GeForce 7950GX2 actually loses to a single Radeon X1900XTX in the majority of tests.

Why ATI’s internal tests conflict with most every independant review on the web is odd. I am not one to take sides, but the results in their graphs just don’t add up. A X1800XT 50% faster than a 7950GX2 in HL2? Published on June 7, 2006

Computex is full underway now, so there is a larger roundup today.

Hexus has a massive round-up of Day 0 and 1, so get your reading glasses on.

• New memory from OCZ, super fast and looking slick
• Do more with a Toshiba hard drive… in your phone!
• The Toshiba Portege R200… it’s a lightweight!
• K-PEX, Kingston’s portable media player
• Come and finger OCZ’s Biometric USB Stick
• Broadwater running packed with Kingston memory
• GeForce 7900 GT and GTX mini-roundup: eVGA and XFX
• Foxconn hold love-in with favourite platform bedfellows
• FSP Group join the kilowatt club
• Foxconn show off GeForce 7950 GX2 SLI
• ATI demo Havok FX physics acceleration on Radeon GPUs
• The iPod Nano-killer is here?
• Jet turbine drives airflow in XClio chassis
• Albatron’s passively-cooled card is just the ticket..
• A-DATA’s new gadgets. Fancy a solar-powered USB stick?

techPowerUp! has a few roundups of their own. They are visiting all the interesting booths and relaying the new products to you.

Zalman had an awesome HTPC on display. It comes with an integrated 7″ touchscreen TFT. The display has a native resolution of 1024×768 which makes everything crystal clear. A more affordable version of that case comes without LCD screen but is low-profile and takes up to six harddisks. The cooling products have been improved as well. Here we see coolers for AM2 and a new Fatal1ty VGA cooler.

Scythe, Thermalright, Topower, Zalman

E3 is not the only conference with booth babes! NGOHQ has a few pictures of some of the babes on the showfloor, and even insults Toms Hardware in the process.

The people are friendly, and Computex has finally started today. Just in time, as our patience has finally reached its limit. Many looked forward to it, and others worked really hard to make it happen. Computex is not just about hardware and technology, its also about meeting people, and if your lucky, attending parties. In our area, we know a lot of people, and have met friends from the internet that we have been working with for years.

AnandTech also has many interesting things to share with us. How do Core 2 X6800 benchmarks sound? For the first time we’ve seen from any Core 2 chip, it completely obliterates the FX-62 in gaming benchmarks. It’s not a small margin either. In some of the tests, improvements with the X6800 improved game performance from 25% – 50%! This is really a chip worthy of drooling over.

Did you know that DX10 GPU’s will require 300W? Neither did I. Either way, it didn’t stop companies from getting a head start on new power supplies, like this one from OCZ. It’s an internal PSU that sits in a drive bay, but is used only to provide power to your GPU/s.

Toms Hardware has a slew of coverage also, including first thoughts on Intels NAND technology. This tech has a simple immediate benefit for PC users… boot time cut in half! It should also improve everyday computing by a significant amount. I can’t wait to learn more on the tech. On the same page, they also delve into ATI’s physics, and also have a video interview with ATI themselves.

HardwareZone has a lot of coverage also, and great pictures to coincide. There are a many pictures of Core 2 motherboards, if you want to check out what you will be using in the near future. TheTechZone touches up on ATI’s physic technology, and has even included a video of it in action.

More computex coverage from around the web as the days pass..

SAN FRANCISCO, June 6, 2006 – Given the rise of chronic conditions and the rapid aging of the population, the methods of managing health will need to shift from traditional institutional settings to peoples’ everyday environments, including the home. To enable this shift, a group of technology, healthcare and fitness companies have formed the Continua* Health Alliance, an open industry group that will establish an ecosystem of connected personal health and fitness products and services, making it possible for patients, caregivers and healthcare providers to more proactively address ongoing healthcare needs.

You can read the full press release here.

Cases & Enclosures
• iStarUSA Storm S8 Black Computer Case – TweakNews
• Thermaltake Aguila Case – XYZ Computing
• Thermaltake Matrix VX Case – A True Review

Cooling
• Thermalright HR01 Passive Heatsink – Pro-Clockers
• Thermalright Ultra-90 Cooler – Technic3D

Memory & Storage
• SyncMax 533Express DDR2 Memory – Viper Lair

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Cooler Master iGreen Power 430W PSU – 3D Gameman
• Dual-Layer DVD Burner Roundup – ExtremeTech
• Grado SR60 Headphone – UK Gamer
• Logitech mm28 Portable Speakers – Think Computers
• OCZ GameXStream 700w Power Supply – OCIA
• OCZ Ultra-Slim 1GB Mini-Kart – Extreme Overclocking
• Terratec Aureon 7.1 PCI – Dolby Digital Live Soundcard – Technic3D
• ThermoHawk 200 Thermal Sensor – Virtual-Hideout

Video Cards & Monitor
• All-in-Wonder X1900 – Gaming Nexus
• GeForce 7900 GT and GTX mini-roundup: eVGA and XFX – Hexus
• HIS Radeon X1600 AGP – Hardware Secrets

Etcetera & Contests
• Brewing With Mr. Beer – Bjorn3D
• eDimensional Giveaway Contest Posted – Rojak Pot
• Pioneer VSX-816-K/S – Digital Trends
• The GIMP v2.3.9 – Phoronix

We knew it was coming, and today is the day. There are a slew of new enhancements to the console that will be downloaded next time you connect to Xbox Live. Here are just a few:

• “Download manager” – Marketplace items now download in the background, queue up to six pieces of content
• DVD bookmark support will remember the film’s timing and location when resuming viewing
• Fast-forward and rewind now offered at 2x -16x for any videos saved to hard drive
• “Boot to Dashboard” setting will bypass the loading of any disc in the drive and open directly to Dashboard during power-on
• Begin slideshows from any photo
• Music player now displays which file is currently playing in the playlist
• Music volume level persists between game / reboots
• Separate settings now offered for Game and User volume controls
• Themes can now be set from the “System” blade on the Dashboard
• User-selected music continues play when switching from Dashboard to game or game to Dashboard
• “All Arcade Games” added as a selection in the Xbox Live Arcade area
• Personal gamer pictures allowed as Gamertiles – displayed only to those on your Friends List
• Added support to disable sound effects when navigating Dashboard
• Instantaneous “Change Theme” option added upon downloading new Dashboard themes
• Preserve folder structure of source when viewing photos

You can grab the full list over on the official Xbox site.

1up.com recently reported that it appears to them Microsoft may be abandoning backward compatibility with the XBOX 360. This would be in stark contrast of what Microsoft has said in the past concerning the 360 and backwards compatibility, although admittedly the company has flip-flopped rather vigorously on the issue since the initial launch of the XBOX 360.

While it’s unclear when this would happen, I honestly hope it won’t be soon. I still have many Xbox games that will not work on the 360, and it’s kind of foolish to have to have another entire console there. Check out the full read at DailyTech.

Well if you’re not questing or doing instances then what can you be doing on Word Of Warcraft? Well a lot actually, if the game was just about questing and instances than it would not be as popular as it is. So you on Friday night and don’t have that much to do then head over to Ironforge, the Alliance main city.

Check out the full article at Think Gaming.

With Computex 2006 underway, there are many sites offering their reports. Here is part 1.

Today, I’ll be covering the basics of the core of your system, and sitting down with Gigabyte, ECS and Corsair, talking about all sorts of future issues and potential things, such as support for the Conroe chip on current and future motherboards, additional fields into which each company will expand, and maybe, just maybe if I’m lucky, getting to look into what’s going to be hot in the computing world this year. Welcome to ground zero or day 0 of my trip to Computex, it should be an interesting week. – Motherboards.org

On the 5th of June, one day before Computex, I was pondering what to do, and I easily found my answer. I should go to Computex and see how things are coming along. Of course, I will also do what I do best, causing trouble and chasing after models. – NGOHQ

techPowerUp! also has specific reports on SilverStone, GeIL and A-Data.

ATi is at Computex showing off their Physics capabilities, and I have to say.. it’s looking good. They currently show two configurations… two cards or three cards. If you use three cards, one will solely be used for Physics. But.. a card that would cost twice as much as the AGEIA card? Check out the full look at Hard|OCP for the full article.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – June 6, 2006 – One year after its introduction to
the market, the AMD Geode(tm) LX processor family continues to build
momentum and industry demand. AMD (NYSE: AMD) launched low-power,
high-performance AMD Geode LX processors at Computex 2005 to offer
developers a smart choice for unique, full-featured devices, enabling
extended functionality, small form factors and long battery life. The
processor’s versatile, industry-standard x86 architecture allows
developers to bring highly integrated solutions to market, meeting
diverse needs.

You can read the full press release here.

Well this month we are going to be giving away some prizes in a Battlefield 2 tournament at the end of the month. Yeah a XFX VIVO 7900GT, XFX ForceFeed Back Head Set and a Game Pad are up for stake.

So in the mean time why not go and play on the server so you can get used to who you will be fighting in the tournament. Here is the server info: 74.52.39.186:16567

Check it out Bjorn3D.

Cases & Enclosures
• Cooler Master Centurion 534 Case – 3D Gameman
• Cooler Master X Craft 350 – BIOS Magazine
• Shuttle XPC SN27P2 Small Formfactor Socket AM2 Barebones PC – PC Stats

Cooling
• Antec AMD & Intel Universal Processor Heatsink – A1-Electronics

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Ultra X2 550W / Ultra X-Finity 500W / Ultra X-Finity 600W – Overclockers Online

Video Cards & Monitor
• GeForce 7950 GX2 – DNR Hardware
• GeForce 7950 GX2 – GamePyre
• GeForce 7950 GX2 – Motherboards.org
• GeForce 7950 GX2 – Overclockers New Zealand
• GeForce 7950 GX2 Tech Report – Rojak Pot
• GeForce 7950 GX2 – Technic3D
• GeForce 7950 GX2 – techPowerUp!
• Gigabyte X1900XTX – Motherboards.org
• HIS Radeon X1300 IceQ Turbo 256MB DDR2 PCI Express – Bona Fide Reviews

Etcetera & Contests
• Driver comparison: nVIDIA ForceWare 9x – 3D Chip
• Knoppix v5.0.1 LiveCD – Phoronix
• SiSoftware Sandra 2007 Business Edition – Think Computers
• Toshiba Gigashot GSC-R30 – Digital Trends
• Year’s Supply of Jolt Gum – TechFEAR

Last week, Intel allowed the press to run a series of benchmarks on pre-installed Conroe test systems. Our German colleagues attended the Intel event in Germany and spent some time with the all-new systems. However, we were not allowed to release the results – until now.

As is becoming expected, Conroe beat the FX-62 in almost every test. The only ones that the FX-62 crowned, were the gaming ones, naturally. Check out the full look at Toms Hardware.

To cut a long and depressing story very short, the store didn’t have what he had been looking for. In fact, it had virtually nothing worthy of Ken’s attention for two hours. We resolved then and there to do a thorough breakdown of the options available to today’s film connoisseurs, the good and the bad, and figure out who actually uses any of them. Masochist that I am, I volunteered for the job.

This is an in-depth look at your options when it comes to picking up the latest release. Blockbuster is far from being the only choice out there. Check it out at Ars Technica.